Privacy Policy

• Most of OBOB.dog works without an account, and we don't know who you are when you use it.
• The Dog Eared Book Club needs an account. A parent or guardian creates it with their email. Kids never enter an email, a password, or their real name.
• We collect only what the club needs to work: a display name, which books a kid is reading and how far along they are, and the team they're on.
• We never sell data, show ads, or share a child's information with anyone outside the club they're part of.
• Parents can see their reader's progress and settings on their dashboard, and can ask us to delete everything at any time.

Parents and guardians own club accounts. When you sign up we collect:

• Your email address. It's how you sign in. We email you a one-time code instead of using a password, and we'll use it if we ever need to contact you about your account.
• Your first name. So the dashboard can say hello, and to credit any questions you write. It's never shown to kids.
• A record of your consent. The date and version of the consent screen you agreed to before adding a reader.
• A sign-in cookie that keeps you signed in for 30 days.

If you write practice questions, they're credited to your first name. If you report a problem with a question, the report is linked to your account so a reviewer can follow up.

OBOB readers are mostly under 13, so we built the club to follow the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). A kid's account is created by their parent, and a kid never types in personal details. Here is everything we keep about a reader:

• A display name chosen by the parent. We suggest a nickname or first name only. It's shown to the reader, their parents, and their teammates.
• A login code (like BARK-7K2M3P). It's how a kid signs in, and it's printed on their bookmark. A parent can replace it at any time, which signs the kid out everywhere.
• OBOB division and school for the season, so battles use the right book list and teams can find each other. School is optional.
• Books and reading progress: which books they've added, which chapter or page they're on, when they finish, and whether they read or listened. This is what the club is for. Teammates and their parents can see it; nobody else can.
• Their bookmark design: the colors, words, and stickers they picked for their printable bookmark.
• Team membership. Teams are set up by parents. Kids see their teammates' display names and reading progress, and nothing else about them.
• Practice questions they write, credited to their display name and checked by a reviewer before anyone sees them.
• A sign-in cookie that lasts 7 days.

What we don't collect from kids

• Email addresses, passwords, phone numbers, or a home address
• Photos, videos, or voice recordings
• Location
• Free-text messages between kids. There is no chat in the club.

We do keep track of how the club is used, like how many battles are played, so we can improve it.

• A parent signs in with their email and a one-time code, then reads a consent screen that says what the club collects and why. Nothing about a child is stored until the parent agrees.
• Only a parent can add a reader, pick their display name, and put them on a team.
• A second parent or guardian can be linked to the same reader using the reader's login code, and then sees the same things the first parent does.
• Parents can see their reader's progress and settings on their dashboard at any time, and can rename a reader, replace their login code, or remove them from a team there.
• To delete a reader or a whole account, email [email protected] from the address on the account. We'll confirm and delete it within a few days.

Battles, games, and the book directory don't need an account. Here is what we collect from anyone using the site:

• Analytics. We use PostHog and Vercel Analytics to see which pages and features get used, so we know what to improve. This is usage data, not names.
• Question feedback. If you flag a question, you can add an email so we can follow up. It's optional.
• Newsletter. Just your email, only if you sign up. Unsubscribe any time.

Daily Crossword

• Team codes and nicknames. Random codes (like BARK42) and auto-generated nicknames (like Blue Pup). We never ask for real names.
• Puzzle progress, kept for 7 days and then deleted.
• Voice chat, if a team turns it on, is live between teammates and is never recorded or stored. We encourage parents to supervise it.

We use technology from these companies to deliver OBOB.dog. None of them are allowed to use your data for their own purposes.

• Vercel: hosting, and site analytics
• Neon: the database where club accounts and reading progress live
• Resend: sends the sign-in code emails to parents
• PostHog: product analytics
• Cloudflare: runs the crossword and stores its team data for 7 days
• LiveKit: voice chat for the crossword (audio passes through, nothing is stored)

• Club accounts and reading progress: until a parent deletes a reader or asks us to delete the account.
• Sign-in codes for parents: expire 10 minutes after they're sent.
• Sign-in cookies: 30 days for parents, 7 days for kids.
• Crossword teams: deleted after 7 days.
• Question feedback: kept until a reviewer has acted on it.
• Newsletter: until you unsubscribe.

Whether or not you have an account, you can:

• Ask what information we hold about you or your child
• Ask us to correct or delete it
• Withdraw consent for your child's account, which deletes it
• Limit analytics with your browser's privacy settings
• Unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time

Email [email protected] for any of these. We answer every message.

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we'll post the new version here with a new effective date.